Cross browser testing is one of the most crucial tests that ensure compatibility and functionality of the web app and website across all browsers.
For example, you may notice your web application functioning flawlessly on desktop browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Yet, transitioning to mobile browsers such as Safari on iOS or Chrome on Android may result in challenges such as layout misalignment, malfunctioning features, or decreased speed.
Such challenges arise from differences in screen dimensions, touch controls, and browser rendering mechanisms. Hence, performing cross browser testing for desktop and mobile to maintain user satisfaction is crucial.
In this article, we will learn how to perform cross browser testing for desktop and mobile. So let us get started by having a quick brief on cross browser testing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- What Is Cross Browser Testing?
- Why Perform Cross Browser Testing?
- Approaches to Perform Cross Browser Testing
- Cross Browser Testing Process on Desktop and Mobile
- Best Practices for Cross Browser Testing
- Conclusion
What Is Cross Browser Testing?
Cross browser testing involves testing your website or web applications on different browsers to evaluate its functionality and compatibility. This form of testing is categorized as non-functional testing, including checking the HTML, JavaScript, plugins, and design elements that appear and work consistently on all browsers.
In this process, the tester identifies issues like JavaScript implementations, absent CSS resets, differing font sizes or image orientations, limited HTML5 support, inconsistent page alignment, layout discrepancies, and mismatches in the framework or library versions.
Why Perform Cross Browser Testing?
Let us understand why cross browser testing is needed. For example, you are logging into your favorite social media site on your new MacBook Air. You open Safari, type the URL, and press Enter. But instead of the login form, you see a mess with misaligned fields and broken buttons.
This is due to the different browsers that interpret HTML, CSS, and JavaScript uniquely, leading to these issues. Debugging the source code isn’t enough. Web developers perform cross browser testing to find and fix these compatibility errors, ensuring your site works perfectly for all users, no matter their browser or operating system.
Now, let us learn what approaches web developers use to perform cross browser testing.
Approaches to Perform Cross Browser Testing
To perform cross browser testing for desktop and mobile, web developers use two different test approaches, which include:
Manual testing: Manual testing involves testing websites and web applications without using any automated testing tools. Testers manually execute test cases from the end user’s perspective, ensuring that the application’s features and functionalities work as expected. This type of testing is crucial for identifying user experience issues, such as usability and interface inconsistencies, which automated tests might overlook.
Automated testing: Automated testing involves using automated testing tools to test web applications on desktop or mobile devices. These tools execute predefined test scripts, which can quickly and efficiently validate the functionality, performance, and security of an application. Automated testing is ideal for repetitive tasks, regression testing, and large-scale testing scenarios, as it can run multiple test cases simultaneously across different browsers and devices.
Cross Browser Testing Process on Desktop and Mobile
The process of cross browser testing and fixing bugs for a project can be broken down into different phases, which align with the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) that applies to all types of testing.
Establish a baseline: Run design and functionality tests on your primary browser, usually Chrome. This provides a reference for how the website is intended to look and behave.Create a test plan: Outline your testing scope in a specification document and select browser-OS combinations based on their popularity and site traffic analysis.
Select testing approach: Choose between automated testing, which uses automation testing tools like Selenium for efficient, precise execution across multiple browsers, and manual testing, which is helpful for exploratory scenarios and complements automated testing.
Setup infrastructure: Decide between using emulators/simulators/VMs, which are inexpensive but less reliable, and real devices, which offer accurate results but are costly to maintain. Alternatively, use cloud-based testing platforms like LambdaTest for scalable, cost-effective access to test browser compatibility on real browsers, devices, and OSes.Collaboration and issue tracking: Share test results with your team using tools like Jira to ensure collaborative resolution of issues.
Best Practices for Cross Browser Testing
Some of the best practices that you can implement while performing cross browser testing for desktop and mobile:
Build a browser matrix: Create a browser matrix, which is a list of browsers and their versions that you are targeting for website design. You need to determine the most crucial browsers for your site or app and focus on reaching them along with their different versions. When building a browser matrix, consider your target audience before anything else.
Use automated testing tools: Use automated testing tools to automate browser compatibility testing. This saves time and effort in ensuring cross-browser compatibility.Test on real browsers and devices: Verify your website on actual devices to ensure it operates properly on every platform. While emulators and simulators are helpful, they may not fully mimic real device experiences. Testing on physical devices helps detect issues with touch features or screen quality.
Check CSS support: Test CSS support on different browsers and verify that your CSS attributes are supported across all targeted browsers.Test continuously: Run tests at each stage of the development process to detect and resolve compatibility issues quickly. Continuous testing helps maintain a smooth user experience across all browsers.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed cross browser testing for desktop and mobile. It has given detailed information on performing cross browser testing, which can help you get started. Cross browser testing is essential to ensure your website and web app work as intended.
When running cross browser tests, you have to include this in every stage of the software development process, prioritize user experience, and engage actual users in the testing stage. This can ensure that your website and web app work well on web browsers and deliver a good user experience.
Author: Nazneen
Bio: Nazneen Ahmad is an experienced technical writer with over five years of experience in software development and testing. As a freelancer, she works on various projects to create technical documentation, user manuals, training materials, and other SEO-optimized content in multiple domains, including IT, healthcare, finance, and education.
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